SEBI is looking at reducing the time for initial public offering process from 12 days to a week, said Mr C.B. Bhave, Chairman of the regulator.This means, retail investors who apply for an issue through ASBA (application supported by blocked amount), can get back their money on the seventh day itself if they fail to get allotment. Through ASBA investors can apply for an IPO, keeping the application money in their bank accounts till the finalisation of the allotment.

“We are currently studying what’s happening in the big issues that came in recent times, and are trying to examine the feasibility of doing this,” he said.

Mr Bhave was in town to address the management students at the three-day annual flagship event of Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy. Later, answering questions from the media on the sidelines of the event, he said SEBI is doing its best to check insider trading. However, he said, insider trading is not easy to prove. It requires a lot of investigation. “That’s the experience all around the world. But, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get after it. There have been some punishments in the recent past that came from SEBI. So we keep our eyes and ears open to see that insider trading is controlled.”

To a question on 2G scam and if SEBI is planning any action on listed companies involved in that, Mr Bhave said the regulator looks into areas where there is a violation of capital market laws. “If there is any violation, we will certainly intervene.”

On high frequency trade by members with deep pockets, Mr Bhave said he was not sure whether high frequency trade by itself is a problem or is it the structure of the exchange which is a problem. ‘In fact, one of the areas that we looked at is that some exchanges in other countries have given an access to some members who are not like the other members. So some people could see the orders ahead of the rest. That’s something which cannot be accepted. So this is an issue that we are considering now,” he added.